“America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home,” said President Obama during his speech outlining his plans for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. First, I’m not the President of the United States and all, but I’m pretty sure we’ve been a nation for a good long while. And as Jonah Goldberg said on Twitter “Just get it over with and declare Tom Friedman the King’s Hand.” But, I suppose we should at least give President Obama credit for his honesty in admitting that he can’t handle the job; I mean, shouldn’t a President be able to multi-task? Shouldn’t the leader of the free world be able to handle domestic issues and foreign policy, you know, at the same time? What happened to that whole ‘I can answer that 3:00 am call’ thing? They must not teach that in Community Organizing seminars.

They also don’t seem to teach the what should be obvious idea of “do not tell your enemies when you are leaving” because his plan is as follows:

President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 “surge,” by the end of next summer, according to administration officials and diplomats briefed on the decision.

These troop reductions are both deeper and faster than the recommendations made by Mr. Obama’s military commanders, and they reflect mounting political and economic pressures at home, as the president faces relentless budget pressures and an increasingly restive Congress and American public…

Two administration officials said General Petraeus did not endorse the decision, though both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is retiring, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reluctantly accepted it. General Petraeus had recommended limiting initial withdrawals and leaving in place as many combat forces as possible for another fighting season, to hold on to fragile gains made in recent fighting.

Note, this is a far greater reduction than military commanders advised, but when did that ever stop him? His surge approval, over which he dithered for months, was for far less than they wanted. I’m sure he’d just remind us all how he is the one with the ‘gutsy calls’ and all. Who needs military experts or the advice of people on the ground? That’s for mere mortals. President Obama once again proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only is he woefully incompetent as an Executive, but he is also dangerously irresponsible as a Commander in Chief.

During his speech, he claimed that we can leave now because we met commitments and there are “new opportunities being created for women and girls.’ Yet, he then also said “America will join initiatives that reconcile the Afghan people, including the Taliban.” Um. We spent a decade fighting a war to oust the Taliban and now we are going to return them to a governing role again? So these new opportunities for women and girls are what? New methods of stoning and permanent ‘vacations’ from school?

He also had the audacity to discuss the ‘principles upon which our union was founded’; principles he clearly either does not understand or he holds in utter disdain. Then, during the course of his stump speech preview which, make no mistake, this was, he uttered the phrase – with a straight face, unbelievably – “all human beings deserve to live with freedom and dignity.” Really, President Obama? First, the Taliban exemplifies neither freedom nor dignity.

Secondly, how about you start practicing that preach here. That’s what we Americans want, actually. Leave us be and get out of our way. Our nation was already built and we like it. We do not want, nor need, your ‘nation-building’, which is in actuality tearing us down. I know reality is hard for you to see from your ivory tower perch, but hopefully you’ll get the hint soon enough. Come election time. He ended, in part, by saying “Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim the American Dream that is at the center of our story.”

Then why do you keep doing everything in your power to interfere with the American Dream? And why does your Presidency feel more like a nightmare?

U.S. lawmakers said Sunday they would consider a request by AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai to formally condemn a Florida pastor’s decisionto burn the Koran, after the act triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan.

Note that once again it is being said that one act – the burning of paper – “triggered” the deadly riots. Not the ideology nor the people who committed the acts, of course. Reid flat-out says that Terry Jones caused the murders — murders committed at the hands of other people. People apparently so simple-minded that they cannot think for themselves and cannot possibly know the difference between right and wrong.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repudiated pastor Terry Jones for touching off the chaos with what he called a “publicity stunt.” Jones had earlier threatened to burn the Koran, but then shelved the plan until last month. The burning attracted little U.S. attention at the time but was used as a rallying cry in Afghanistan.

“This was an effort to get some publicity for him. He got it. But in theprocess, 10-20 people have been killed,” Reid said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Asked whether Congress could pass a resolution condemning it, he said, “We’ll take a look at this.”

You’ll take a look at this? Hey, I have a better idea. Why not take a look at why you constantly make excuses for barbarism and evil acts? Why not take a look at, you know, history and see that murderous rampages and beheadings happen all the time – somehow occurring without some obscure pastor burning a book.

Lindsey Graham, who for some inexplicable reason has not been banned by the GOP from appearing on Sunday shows also jumps on the apologist/excuse making bandwagon:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested Congress should condemn the burning, but also stressed that one pastor’s actions should not excuse the subsequent killings.

“Burning a Koran is a terrible thing, but it doesn’t justify killing someone. Burning a Bible would be a terrible thing, but it wouldn’t justify murder,” he said. “But having said that, any time we can push back here in Americaagainst actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do it.”

You know what puts our troops at risk, Lindsey? Evil barbarians. It also puts them at risk when you remain willfully ignorant to that fact and, instead, attempt to put the blame on others. Squashing our freedom of speech by having the American government condemn the exercisethereof does nothing to protect our troops. In fact, it spits on the very freedoms for which they fight.

Harry Reid went even further and said there may have to be hearings on Koran burnings. Lindsey Graham not only wants to condemn the exercise of free speech, but may want to actually limit it. He wants to take away rights from American citizens — to appease people who wish to kill us. On Face The Nation today (video above) he said “Freedom of speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.”

On Friday, as many as 20 United Nations staffers were killed in Afghanistan. Reuters reported it this way (emphasis added):

(Reuters) – Afghan protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by an obscure U.S. pastor killed up to 20 U.N. staff, beheading two foreigners, when they over-ran a compound in a normally peaceful northern city on Friday in the worst ever attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan.

At least eleven people were killed, including some United Nations officials, today in Afghanistan, apparently in response to Florida pastor Terry Jones burning the Koran last month, Afghan police and U.N. officials said.

…

Police told ABC News the protest started peacefully but took a violent turn after a radical leader told those gathered that multiple Korans had been burned. In a fury, the people marched on the nearby U.N. compound despite police firing AK-47s into the air in hopes of subduing them.

You see, it is not the fault of the barbarians who murdered 20 innocent people, beheading two of them. It’s the fault of some unknown hick pastor – because he burned a book. President Obama himself furthered this odious meme with his own statement:

“The brave men and women of the United Nations, including the Afghan staff, undertake their work in support of the Afghan people,” Obama said. “Their work is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan for the benefit of all its citizens. We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue.”

Oh, really President Obama? They killed 20 people because of “differences” (like the burning of a Koran) that can be resolved if only people would have a nice rap session? I suppose he can now pat himself on his smug back for being such a good multicultural Citizen of the World ™. While President Obama and the media prostrate themselves at the altar of multiculturalism, what they are actually doing is proving themselves to be fools and racists.

POTUS 1/3: “The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry…

POTUS 2/3: “However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous, and an affront to human decency and dignity.”

Yeah, no. To say that the reason they committed such barbaric acts was “in response” toanything is an act of bigotry as well as an affront to human decency and dignity.

Because what they believe, and what they expect us to believe, is that the killers in Afghanistan are just poor dumb “brown people” who don’t know any better. They are so simple-minded, in fact, that they can be led astray and led to commit heinous acts of murder by one unknown pastor. Never mind the fact that they behead their own people and stone women to death for the horrendous crime of baring an ankle. Or, you know, being the victim of a rape.

Not only do they truly believe that they are Smarter Than You and more enlightened than we hapless rubes, but they also truly believe that they are better than all those pesky “brown people,” particularly non-westerners. To them, of course non-ivory tower dwelling, non-westerners are far less advanced and can’t be expected to act in a civilized manner. Their barbarism is excused with a figurative pat on the head, all so that the left can tout themselves as oh-so-enlightened and so that they can continue to feel that they are far superior to everyone else.

This attitude is not only bigoted, it is a great danger. It is the “soft bigotry of low expectations” taken to an unprecedented, and deadly level. The result of this line of thought is that not only are barbaric acts like FGM condoned, but terrorism is also not only tolerated, it is excused. We see this all the time in their constant excuse-making for terrorists. Excuse me, man-made disaster causers, as the Newspeak-y left would like us to call them.

This bigotry and this meta-ethical relativism is one of the largest dangers the world faces. The world must realize that apologizing for evil, violent acts is not embracing diversity. It’s not “seeing both sides” nor being culturally aware. It is embracing insanity and condoning evil.

This line of thinking, which condones such barbarism and persists in delusional moral equivalency is revolting. It is excusing evil acts by taking away any culpability people have for their own actions. They are showing their bigotry by saying that people just don’t know any better or are willing dupes easily led, not of their own accord. This must end. This is also not a “difference to be resolved with dialogue”.

Some things are just right or wrong. Some things are just good or evil. Some evil people commit acts of barbarism because they want to. Unlike President Obama and his fellow travelers, I refuse to excuse it and I refuse to ignore that reality.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is quite pleased about the recession. You see, if you can’t afford, you know, food on your table then you also can’t afford to drive or fly around in jets (not tax-free like she does, though. Silly common folk!) And having no job means no pesky c02-emitting driving to said job. Emissions are down! Isn’t that what really matters?

His current anti-soldier hit piece, The Kill Team, is about a group of disgraceful scumbags in Afghanistan who decided to murder several civilians. With it, Boal seems to be following his tried and true formula – write something for publication in a past-its-prime magazine that makes American troops look like cro-magnons then work to turn it into a movie. He took a Playboy article on Americans murdering each other and soon we had In the Valley of Elah. You may have seen it – though the odds are stacked against it. It was ignored by popular demand.

Another article, this one on bomb disposal experts, became The Hurt Locker, which took some of the bravest and most dedicated people in our armed forces and made them out as undisciplined, drunken, unprofessional clowns. In fact, Boal got sued by one of the guys he allegedly wrote about. To be fair, itdid win an Academy Award . . . from the same band of geniuses who passed over Saving Private Ryanin favor of Shakespeare In Love and once picked as “Best Song” the unforgettable hit “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” So, there’s that.

Boal’s technique is to chronicle the most degenerate fringes of the warfighters’ experience and repackage the most sordid episodes as its totality. One can easily imagine the Rolling Stone editors eager for the chance to please their dwindling audience of aging Garfunkel-digging hippies and Chomsky-devouring clove-smokers with another prejudice-reinforcing piece about how those Middle-American Army guys are barely one step above gorillas. Rolling Stone even promises a glimpse at the grim photos the mean old Pentagon doesn’t want you to see – as if there was some moral imperative for the military to provide gist for the jihadi propaganda mill. Hey, that’s Boal and Rolling Stones’ job!

I’m wiping a tear right now. Schlichter takes righteous anger and whips the words up with a pretty stick like no other. All while demolishing Mark Boal’s deluded claims, showing Boal for the shameless and hateful liar that he is. He concludes by reminiscing about his own personal experiences with and in the military:

The real story of American warriors in Afghanistan is one of courage and compassion, of bravery in the face of almost overwhelming challenges. You won’t see that in Boal’s article or his movies. The truth is off-message. The truth doesn’t pay.

Let me share a story from Desert Storm 20 years ago that sums up the truth about American soldiers. The ground war had just started and I had to go out to a field hospital in the middle of the desert to take care of some business. I was in a tent with a young specialist who had – as American troops will do – decked it out pretty nicely. Among his amenities, he had a small fridge packed with sodas running off a generator…..

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential “finding”, within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter.

Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment.

News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi’s opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces.

President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.

This time, Obama met quietly in the Oval Office with Gary Bass of OMB Watch, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive, Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org, without disclosing the meeting on his public schedule or letting photographers or print reporters into the room.

Note that the original secret undisclosed meeting was postponed – with no reason given. More transparency that is the exact opposite of transparency. Steve Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy had the line of the day:

“And in that sense, one could say it resembles the award at the Nobel Peace Prize,” Aftergood said. “It’s not because Obama brought peace to anyone but because people hoped he would be a force for good in the world, and maybe that’s the way to understand this award.

Heh. It should also be noted that the Obama Administration keeps transparency awards secret, yet does not feel the same need to keep actual covert orders secret.

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Snark. And Boobs!

Exposing Asshattery in Washington, DC (and elsewhere if it makes me froth at the mouth), from a dame’s point of view. Hence, the snark and boobs. Probably should have said nag and boobs, but snark has a better ring to it. Contact info: Snarkandboobs@gmail.com

Stimulate Me!

Minds out of the gutter! Not THAT way. The Stimulus Package way. Oh .. that sounds just as bad. Oh, well.